What are the best tools for tracking all-round email deliverability?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 3 Jun 2025
Updated 19 Aug 2025
8 min read
Navigating the complexities of email deliverability can feel like a constant battle. I often hear from marketers and business owners grappling with getting their emails to the inbox consistently. It is a critical aspect of any email strategy, yet it is frequently misunderstood or overlooked until problems arise. Without proper tracking, you are essentially sending emails into a void, hoping for the best but lacking any real insight into performance. This makes it impossible to diagnose issues, optimize campaigns, or truly understand your sender reputation.
The good news is that a variety of tools can provide the visibility you need to ensure your emails reach their intended recipients. These tools range from free, foundational platforms provided by major inbox providers to comprehensive third-party solutions that offer deep analytics and proactive monitoring capabilities. The key is understanding what each tool offers and how to integrate them into a holistic deliverability strategy.
It is not about finding a single 'best' tool, but rather building a toolkit that covers all the bases: authentication, reputation, inbox placement, and content quality. I find that a multi-pronged approach often yields the most effective results, combining native insights with specialized third-party monitoring.
Essential native tools
When you are looking to track your overall email deliverability, the first place to start is often with the tools provided directly by the major email service providers (ESPs). These are invaluable because they give you direct insight into how the most significant players view your sending domain and IP addresses. Leveraging these free resources is foundational for any serious deliverability strategy.
Google provides Postmaster Tools, a comprehensive suite that offers data on your sender reputation, spam rates, delivery errors, and authentication success rates (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). It is crucial for understanding how Gmail in particular perceives your email program. Similarly, Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) provides detailed reports on IP reputation, spam complaints, and overall sending data for emails sent to Outlook and other Microsoft properties. These platforms are essential for gaining insights directly from the mailbox providers themselves.
While these native tools are incredibly powerful, they do have limitations. They typically only provide data for traffic directed to their own mailboxes and may not offer granular insights into specific deliverability issues like content filtering or placement within the inbox (e.g., primary tab vs. promotions). This is where third-party tools become invaluable, offering a broader view across multiple providers.
Comprehensive deliverability platforms
Beyond the native options, several comprehensive platforms specialize in all-round email deliverability monitoring and optimization. These tools aim to provide a more holistic view, often combining various checks into a single dashboard. They are particularly useful for those managing larger email volumes or needing deeper diagnostic capabilities.
Many of these platforms offer inbox placement testing, which uses a seed list of email addresses across various ISPs to show where your emails land (inbox, spam, or missing). They also often include features like blocklist monitoring, allowing you to instantly see if your sending IPs or domains have been listed on any major blacklists (or blocklists). This proactive monitoring is key to preventing widespread delivery issues before they escalate.
Other valuable features include content spam testing, which analyzes your email's subject line and body for elements that might trigger spam filters, and DMARC reporting, providing aggregated feedback on your email authentication status. These tools offer a deeper dive into deliverability issues than what native postmaster tools alone can provide. Choosing the right platform often depends on your specific needs, budget, and the scale of your email operations.
Typical deliverability challenges
Sender reputation: Your domain or IP address is flagged as suspicious, leading to emails being rejected or sent to spam. This can be due to high bounce rates or spam complaints.
Blocklisting: Your sender is listed on a real-time blacklist (RBL), preventing your emails from reaching many inboxes.
Authentication failures: Misconfigured SPF, DKIM, or DMARC records can cause emails to be marked as suspicious or outright rejected.
Content issues: Spammy keywords, broken links, or poor HTML formatting can trigger spam filters, regardless of your reputation.
Specialized tools and services
Beyond all-in-one solutions, some tools focus on specific, critical aspects of email deliverability, offering deep expertise in a particular area. These can be integrated into your workflow to bolster your overall monitoring strategy.
For blacklist checking and general domain health monitoring, tools like MXToolbox provide quick insights. While not a complete deliverability tool, it helps confirm if your IP or domain is listed on major blocklists, which is often a primary cause of emails going to spam or being rejected. I frequently use it as a first check when I suspect a reputation issue. Blocklist monitoring is a crucial component of an all-round deliverability strategy.
Another specialized area is email authentication monitoring. Tools that focus on SPF, DKIM, and DMARC (like Suped's DMARC monitoring) are essential. These protocols verify your sender identity, helping mailbox providers trust your emails. Ensuring these records are correctly configured and actively monitored can prevent a significant percentage of deliverability issues, especially with the latest sender requirements from Google and Yahoo. I find that even small misconfigurations here can have outsized impacts on inbox placement.
Finally, email validation tools are vital for maintaining list hygiene. Services like Kickbox verify email addresses before you send, reducing bounces and spam trap hits. A clean list is the bedrock of good deliverability, and these tools are a proactive measure to prevent issues before they impact your sender reputation. While not strictly a monitoring tool, email validation directly impacts your deliverability metrics, making it an indispensable part of an all-round strategy.
Leveraging analytics and manual tracking
While third-party and native tools offer immense value, I have learned that one of the most powerful tools for tracking email deliverability is often overlooked: your own email service provider (ESP) analytics and a good old-fashioned spreadsheet. These foundational elements provide the context needed to truly understand your deliverability performance.
Your ESP's dashboard is your first line of defense. It provides real-time data on key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates (hard and soft), and spam complaints. Monitoring these numbers consistently allows you to spot trends and anomalies quickly. A sudden spike in bounce rates or complaints, for instance, is an immediate red flag that warrants further investigation, potentially signaling an issue with your list hygiene or content.
Beyond the automated dashboards, a manual spreadsheet can be incredibly powerful for a holistic view. I recommend tracking your critical deliverability metrics alongside your content calendar and communication activities. This allows you to connect specific sending behaviors or campaign types to changes in your deliverability performance. It is about being proactive rather than reactive, understanding the fundamental causes behind reputation changes rather than just reacting to alarms from external tools.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Actively use Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS, as they offer direct insights from major mailbox providers.
Consistently monitor your ESP's internal metrics like bounce rates and spam complaints.
Regularly clean your email list to reduce bounces and avoid spam traps.
Common pitfalls
Relying solely on one tool for all deliverability insights, neglecting other critical data points.
Not understanding how your sending behavior directly impacts your IP and domain reputation.
Ignoring small shifts in deliverability metrics until they become major problems.
Expert tips
Build a comprehensive understanding of your sending behavior and its feedback.
Use a spreadsheet to track campaign metrics and correlate them with communication activities.
Focus on proactive deliverability management rather than just reacting to issues.
Marketer view
A marketer from Email Geeks says they primarily use Google Postmaster Tools, noting it is a useful indicator but can sometimes be unreliable.
2022-03-28 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
A marketer from Email Geeks says they were in a demo with Kickbox and found it to be a good tool.
2022-03-29 - Email Geeks
Building your deliverability toolkit
Ultimately, there is no single 'best' tool for tracking all-round email deliverability because effective deliverability management requires a multi-faceted approach. Relying on just one solution will always leave blind spots. The most successful email programs combine insights from various sources to form a complete picture of their sending health.
My advice is to integrate insights from your ESP's analytics, native ISP tools, specialized third-party platforms for specific needs like blocklist monitoring, and robust email authentication monitoring. Proactive monitoring, coupled with a deep understanding of your sending behavior, will always be your most powerful asset in ensuring your emails consistently reach the inbox.
By adopting this holistic perspective and utilizing a combination of tools, you can not only diagnose existing issues but also anticipate and prevent future deliverability challenges, ensuring your email program remains healthy and effective.
